Despite being cast in reality TV shows and becoming an MTV favorite, Chanel West Coast really considers herself a rapper and wants nothing more than the chance to make music. In fact, she said she was worried about joining MTV, fearful it would ruin her chances of "being taken seriously as an artist," per LA Weekly.

Wherever she stands as a musician now, there's no denying that music was a huge part of her childhood. She told the outlet that as a little girl, she lived in the San Fernando Valley with her mom, where she started "listening to hip-hop and smoking weed at age 11." But it was with her father that she had her big musical breakthrough.

Chanel's father is DJ Jamie Dudley, and when she would visit him in New York, he'd bring her along to nightclubs all over the city, according to her website, even when she was as young as 8. She said that some of her favorite memories were sitting under the DJ booth, so no one could spot a little girl in a nightclub. She said, "I've always been around music, and I knew it's what I'd do for the rest of my life. I didn't have a choice."

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